Fiber Babble: Successful Felted Hat!

Successful Felted Hat!

October 12, 2006

...and they said it couldn't be done!

Before:

Denim Felted Hat B4

After:

Fiber Trends AC-02 Felt Hat II, by Bev Galeskas
Patons Classic Merino 100% Wool, color "New Denim" (1 1/8 skeins)
Mosaic Pattern from Barbara Walker's Third Treasury, "Pillared Band", p. 208

I'm not sure about the brim edge (the first 2 are purl rows); it doesn't seem to want to play nice. Is the point to have it curl up? Nor am I excited about the spot where it goes from brim to band... it's pretty obvious that something is going on there, both in the non-felted and felted state, but I'm not sure if that was from the pattern or if my tension was wigging.

I am, however, very glad that I took this for a test drive before casting on for J's hat. I will definitely do the medium size (this one's a large) and also probably go half and half between the small brimmed and large brimmed versions.

The mosaic is not exactly as Ms. Walker intended... I was knitting at a meeting and was really, REALLY frustrated (2 1/2 hours and I never did get the point. Had to ask someone what the subject matter was supposed to be), plus I'd forgotten the chart at home. One of my co-torturees commented that I'd probably have to frog that section because my tension was probably too tight!

Oh, and a COOL thing... I figured out how to felt in my own washer! Yay! No more doing it by hand or taking it to L's! Woo-hoo!

Labels: felting, knitting